The Villian and The Prince
by MidnightWalking
Summary: Just what did Sarah mean when she said, "I need all of you." How 'all' is 'all' for Sarah? I hope the story was at least somewhat enjoyable.
1. Chapter 1 The Pary is Over

**AN: I make no claim to the main characters - they all belong to Jim Henson. This is my first foray into the Labyrinth arena with an original story of my own; please let me know what you think of this story.**

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**Chapter One – The Party is Over**

The party was over and the last guest had left. The girl stood amongst the remains of the party glitter waiting but she realized it was in vain.

"He's not coming," she mourned forlornly, and suddenly she emitted a sob as she reiterated, "he's not coming." The realization struck her a soul-numbing blow.

Everything they had been through, all the maneuvering to gain the upper hand, all the verbal battles, the ballroom dance, the final challenge, the final offer had all meant nothing the moment she realized he hadn't accepted her offer after she returned home.

The rejection hurt deep into her heart. She had heard others speaking about the pain of a broken heart, but this was the first time she had ever felt it, and it hurt like – well, she decided, nothing could hurt worse, so she would compare it to 'hell.' Yes, she decided, it 'hurt like hell.'

Her only recourse was to throw herself on her bed and cry as much of the pain out as possible. All this time, she had believed the story to be real and she had played the game just as the book had instructed. She knew he had done his part perfectly, and she had been profoundly grateful for everything he had done for her, but she thought she had played her role correctly as well; she even remembered those final words that she always struggled with when acting out the role in the park.

He made the flawless villain, and no one could have surpassed his portrayal. She had marveled at the cruel looks and vicious words. She had silently applauded his conniving tricks and had been dumbfounded at his last ditch effort to stop her completely by attempting to trap her in the exquisite crystal ballroom. The dance, she admitted, had utterly surprised her because it had not been a part of the original story; nonetheless, she had trembled in delight as he took her in his arms and led her in her first grown-up dance. If it hadn't been for Toby and the overwhelming desire to finish the game, she would have stayed to discover how the new scene would have played out, but the game came first and she wouldn't allow herself to lose sight of that fact.

She had done everything according to the rules she had learned from the little red book, and after her win, she had chosen the right words carefully, the perfect words of invitation that would include him, and then, when he never appeared, she had faced the final rejection, the ultimate heartrending defeat. She had lost and her world had crashed down upon her burying her in utter despair.

Hoggle watched from the mirror as the girl sobbed her heart out, and he brooded over the confusing sight before him. Only a short time ago, she had been laughing and celebrating with the other labyrinth inhabitants who had come at her invitation, but now she was in the deepest pit of sorrow and it made no sense to him.

Outside her window, perched on a branch of her favorite tree, was a brown white-crested owl. He gazed into the window endeavoring to decipher the scene that was playing out in front of him.

Here was the vibrant champion, the victorious challenger weeping as if she had been the defeated victim, as if she had been the one who lost all her dreams and fondest desires rather than him. Her agonizing sobs should have been cheers of delight; lighthearted laughter should have filled her room rather than painful sobs of sorrow.

If anyone had a right to tears, it was he, the truly rejected one. He had offered her everything and still been turned down by the only one who had ever captured his heart. Her rejections had ripped his heart out; a piercing unsurpassable pain or so he believed, but hearing her sobs and observing her tears was even more agonizing then her pitiless rejection of him just before he sent her safely home.

Three words finally reached his ears through the closed window. Three words he had not been present for just before she began to cry.

"He didn't come."

Three words that she painfully moaned as she once again mourned his absence, three words that he failed to comprehend the meaning of, three words that if he had fully understood them would have caused, at that moment, a shift in the worlds around both of their suffering souls. Instead, he helplessly watched as she inconsolably cried into her pillow. It wasn't until sleep mercifully took her from her world that he finally stretched his wings and flew home.

After reaching the castle, he conveyed himself to the throne room where he slumped into his special chair and spent the rest of the early morning puzzling through the meaning of her words. 'He didn't come,' her words obviously referred to someone she had expected to come, but didn't. The absentee guest wasn't Hedgewood, he had seen the odious wart cavorting around in her room as if he were her knight in shining armor, and it could not have been Sir Didymus because he too was there with his shaggy steed. She also could not have meant the orange shaggy beast because no one could have missed his presence even if one tried.

'Who else would she have missed?' he wondered. The Wise Man had been there, and he had even seen the fire gang dancing all around the room. In addition, a number of his traitorous goblin guards had even attended – a matter he would seriously address in the near future. It couldn't have been the worm either, for although he was small, his blue coloring had made him easily visible to Jareth's owl form perched out on the branch. Who was left, he wondered. He knew she couldn't be referring to the knockers, doors, alarms, or helping hands because they couldn't physically leave the labyrinth. 'So,' he asked himself, 'who was left?' Surely, she wasn't referring to Toby; he was still a babe and had been sound asleep in his crib. 'So who could it be?' He asked himself feeling a growing frustration. "Who else could she have been referring to?"

"Who what sire?" One of the goblins asked.

He hadn't realized he had spoken aloud, but _what was said was said_, so he irritably looked at the goblin and snapped, "Who wasn't at the celebration party last night?"

"What party sire?" The goblin asked as he slowly backed away from the king's ire.

"Her party you imbecile!" he bellowed as he rose threateningly from his throne. "I saw you there you little scab. Who had she expected to come that didn't?" he snarled in frustration.

"Oh, the girl's party, well, only you didn't come, sire," the goblin mumbled softly, fearful of offending his majesty and ending up being dipped in the bog.

Inadvertently reflecting the goblin's thoughts about his impending doom, the king contemplated sending him to the disgustingly putrid bog, but stopped, as he suddenly comprehended the creatures comment. He hadn't neglected the fact that he appeared in his owl form, but he didn't think that counted as being near her. Besides, had she really expected him to attend, to appear in her room, and cavort with his subjects in celebration of his own defeat?

He sat back down as he toyed with the idea. 'Could she really have expected me, 'ME' the Goblin King, to attend her pathetic little soiree to listen to her gloat about beating me or boast about rejecting me? And yet,' he wondered, 'would it have been so bad to have been asked?' He laughed mockingly as he thought, 'Surely, after everything that happened, she would not really want me there. The villain of her story, the one she accused of stealing her brother.'

'Of course,' he pondered thoughtfully with a rueful smile twitching his lips, 'it could have been fun to have been there, to tease and taunt and even tempt her.' He still could smell her clean innocent scent, see her deep thoughtful green eyes, and marvel at her bold determination and headstrong will. She was everything he could ever have hoped to find and win in a woman, and yet she wasn't a woman. Maybe he needed to remember that she was still a child and as such, she thought and acted as a child. 'Was that why she rejected my offer?" The thought suddenly registered, 'She was too immature to realize what I was offering.' It was an idea worth investigating he decided while slapping his riding crop lightly against his hip. Maybe there was hope yet, but only if he discovered what she had really meant. He knew there was no way to go to her unless she invited him, for as she had so rudely pointed out; _he had no power over her_.

"Creepy," the king purred unexpectedly.

Knowing the king's penchant for mispronouncing names in order to irate the listener, Creeia replied for fear of retribution if he ignored the call, "Yes majesty?"

"I have a task for you." Creeia came closer as the king spoke softly. "You are to go above ground and watch the girl. Watch her even after she falls asleep, and you are not to return until I call you; when I do, you will tell me everything she has said and done during the course of your watch." The king leaned down closer to Creeia before asking, "Do you understand?"

"Yes majesty. I do as you command." Creeia bowed as he was about to leave the room.

"Oh, and Creepy, you are not to be seen by anyone, especially the girl," the king warned.

"Yes majesty," Creeia acknowledged before swiftly vacating the room.


	2. Chapter 2 Intruder

**AN: Sorry this took a little longer than I thought to edit and post. As will all my stories, I do not own any of the recognizable characters, especially Jareth and Sarah.**

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**Chapter Two – Intruder**

Sarah had fallen asleep amidst tears and anguish, and in the process, she had not changed out of her traveling – as she was to dub them – clothes. When she awoke the next morning, she had a headache and her body ached in places where her clothing had either pulled tightly against her skin or twisted into cloth knots that dug into her skin as she slept. To top it all off, her mouth felt gritty, as if someone had sprinkled dirt into it.

As Sarah groggily dragged herself out of bed and into the bathroom, Creeia stealthily watched from a darkened corner of the room. When she entered the bathroom, he decided it would be more appropriate to allow the girl her privacy so while he waited for the girl, he wandered about the room marveling at all the trinkets scattered about. He noticed a furry animal that somewhat represented the little knight who had traveled with the girl, and a hard little statue that reminded him of the dwarf gardener. Then, on the wall near the girl's bed, he noticed a picture of the unusual room in the castle with the stairs that went in many different directions. His last find was a drawer in a table with a mirror; inside the drawer, he found a little red book entitled _The Labyrinth_. Removing the book from the drawer, he hugged it to his chest and carried it back to his darkened little corner.

As Creeia tucked himself back into his little corner of her room, Sarah completed her daily preparations and walked back into her room. Noticing the time on her clock, she walked downstairs and stopped in the kitchen, but instead of eating breakfast, she slowly sipped a little orange juice and then excused herself saying she had to get to the school library early so she could do some necessary research before classes started. She really hadn't felt up to eating anything, but the juice provided an acceptable substitute for her usual breakfast.

Karen frowned at Sarah's lack of appetite, but refrained from saying anything to her stepdaughter as she watched Sarah leave the house without eating breakfast. Once Sarah was gone, Karen turned to Robert and voiced her concern. "Do you think she is coming down with something? It's not like her to leave without breakfast."

Without looking up from his newspaper, Robert replied, "Don't worry, she's a teenager, they don't maintain regular routines."

As Sarah slowly walked to school, she continued to dwell on her absent guest from last night's party. His rejection, in her mind, meant one thing; she had lost rather than won the delightful game they had played, but she couldn't discover where she had failed. Throughout the day, her mind continually distracted her from her studies as it meticulously replayed the journey while struggling to locate the point where she lost. She knew she had to have erred somewhere in the game, but the error seemed to evade her. In fact, she remained so distracted during one class that she earned detention for not paying attention. Her time in detention provided her with a place to re-examine the entire journey inch by gloriously relived inch without interruption. When she reached the crystal ballroom, she finally conceded to herself that this was where she had lost the game; however, as she reminisced she visualized the dance, which caused tingles of sheer delight to surge through her body.

The crystal ballroom had never appeared in the little red book, of that she was absolutely positive, but to make perfectly certain of that fact, she was resolved to reread the book one more time that evening. With that plan in mind, she hurried home, but as soon as she stepped through the front door, her stepmother greeted her.

"Sarah, are you feeling well?" Karen inquired with concern because she thought Sarah looked slightly fatigued.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired," she stared at Karen wondering why her stepmother would ask such a thing.

"Okay," Karen replied simply and let the subject drop because she didn't want Sarah to feel as if she was prying into her life. She then added matter-of-factly, "Just so you know, supper will be three hours late because your father has an important meeting to attend. If you should get hungry, I can make you a little snack to tide you over until then," Karen was trying her best to shore up the rift she felt had occurred after the previous night's incident about Sarah babysitting.

"That's okay," Sarah replied as cordially as possible. After her horrible mistake the previous evening that resulted in her wonderful journey through the labyrinth, she realized she needed to take steps to mend the broken relationship that existed between them, but she also didn't feel the slightest bit hungry so she added as politely as possible, "I don't want anything right now but maybe later," and with that polite reply, she hoped to make a hasty retreat up to her room.

Unfortunately, Karen delayed her by asking affably, "So, how was school today?"

Sarah knew she meant well and didn't realize she was keeping Sarah from something she considered extremely important, so Sarah held back the sharp retort she might have made prior to yesterday evening and simply commented, "I had detention; I guess the teacher was unhappy that I couldn't answer her question. Anyway, I have a lot of homework so I'm going upstairs to get it started." She felt she had supplied enough information to satisfy Karen's curiosity about how she had spent her day and demonstrated that she could converse in a friendly manner with Karen.

Carelessly wishing her brother away caused Sarah to see herself in a new light, and she finally recognized how self-centered and bratty she could be, and that fact helped fortify her resolve to be nicer to Karen and her brother. Her recent display of cordiality, she thought, should be a good start to repairing the currently crumbling relationship with her stepmother, but she couldn't make herself stay longer to talk to Karen because the gnawing anxiety to discover what the red book said had to be satiated.

Sarah raced up the stairs, and Creeia, who had just finished a more meticulous inspection of her room despite a few interruptions by the lady of the house, noticed her arrival. As Sarah charged up the stairs, he swiftly folded himself into the darkened little nook he was now considering his temporary home while he remained on watch.

In his haste to hide, however, he noticed that he had forgotten the little red book lying on the girl's bed. With no time to retrieve it or replace it, he regrettably left it lying there. Since he couldn't do anything else while the girl was in the room, he decided it was a good time to eat a few more of those tasty round chewy objects he had retrieved from the kitchen while the older lady had left the house. He definitely enjoyed the little brown chunks in the round chewy objects because they were particularly sweet. He wondered what other marvelous items he might find in the kitchen to eat while he was watching the girl for his king. He had definite plans to invade the kitchen while the household slept.

As Sarah entered her room, the first thing she noticed was the red book lying on her bed. With a puzzled look on her face, she slowly picked it up while vividly envisioning herself placing it in the drawer of her vanity. She also noted that someone had either moved or shifted some of the items in her room from their normal resting places. Remembering not to be upset, she walked out to the head of the stairs and called down, "Karen, did you clean my room?"

"No, Sarah. Why?"

"Some of my things are out of place and I wondered if you had moved them."

"I was only there to change out your towels and then hang up your laundry. I promise, I didn't touch anything else," Karen had come to the bottom of the stairs to respond.

"Okay, thanks Karen." It pleased Sarah that she hadn't yelled or become upset when she suspected that Karen had invaded her privacy, but if it wasn't Karen, then who was it. Was it possible, she wondered, that Hoggle or even the goblins still had access to her room? If she could still talk to Hoggle, she would definitely ask him about it, and with that thought in mind, she returned to her room and sat down in front of her vanity mirror.

"Hoggle," she called softly, "I need you."

Hoggle, for his part, had discovered the existence of the opening through his full-length mirror the previous night after Sarah issued her invitation. Soon after the girl had entered the 'Escher' room, his companions and he had exited the castle and escaped to his small cottage. It was the safest place he could think of; it hadn't been long after their escape that they heard Sarah's call. The opening had surprised him, but the fact that it remained open surprised him even more. That mirror had also allowed him to witness Sarah crying herself asleep after the party. The next day, when he paused in his work to see if opening had remained, he had watched an older lady enter the room to put some clothes away in Sarah's bureau.

Since he had finished his daily tasks, he had decided to check the mirror for any new developments. As he walked toward the mirror, he heard her call and immediately replied.

"Here Sarah," he saw her clearly in his mirror. A slight smile graced her face as she sat in front of her mirror, but dark lines under were etched under her eyes. He wondered if crying herself to sleep had caused those lines.

"Hoggle, do you or the goblins still have access to my room?" She asked as she tried valiantly to maintain her strained smile.

"I can see inta yer room, but I don't know if I can walk through the mirror. Should I try it do ya think?" If he could, then it would mean they could continue to visit and he wouldn't lose his best friend. The first was a thought that pleased him, but attempting the unknown scared him.

"Yes Hoggle, but don't walk through, just see if you can reach your hand through first; just in case something goes wrong."

"Goes wrong?" Hoggle groaned. "Figures, that rat Jareth would never give somethin' fer nothin'," he muttered before tentatively putting his arm through the mirror. He discovered that some type of opening still existed. His hand easily went through the mirror as if it wasn't there. Noticing a small box on Sarah's vanity, he carefully reached for it. He was able to pick it up and bring it to his side of the mirror, and then he carefully returned it to its original spot on top of her vanity.

"Guess it works," he muttered to Sarah. "Don't know fer how long it'll work, but it works fer now."

"Hoggle," Sarah had watched everything he had done. Now, deep in thought, she got up and wandered about her room as she asked, "you don't suppose any of the goblins found out what your mirror does, do you?"

"Goblins? Why would they be comin' inta my house? It's off limits, no entry, says so on the door." Hoggle grumbled gruffly. 'If they dared,' he thought, 'they'd surely pay fer trespassing where they didn't belong.' Trying not to sound as if he might be worried, he tried to sound casual as he inquired, "Why ya asking?"

"I think someone has been in my room because some of my things have been moved." She was going to tell him about finding her _Labyrinth_ book on her bed even though she was positive she had put it away, but she decided to keep that piece of information to herself. "My stepmother says she was here, but only to put some things away. If she didn't move things around in my room, then I wondered if maybe some of the goblins might have come in and moved them."

"Stepmom? Huh, I musta seen her earlier," he commented, "I looked in the mirror and saw a lady putting things away in a bureau, musta been her, but that was all. Didn't mean ta look; didn't really know I could when I looked in the mirror."

"Maybe it happened because we became friends and maybe because I said I needed all of you."

"Maybe," Hoggle pondered aloud, "Sure weren't because o' 'him;' he'd never do nothin' nice like that." Hoggle grumbled angrily. He knew there was no love lost between him and the king; they had a mutual understanding – they neither liked each other much.

"Hoggle, don't be mean," Sarah replied.

"Why not? He weren't being nice when he tried to kill us with the cleaners."

"Stop Hoggle," her voice was sterner this time. "That was all part of the game. He had to do it; it was in the game, and he had to follow the rules. All games have rules, and he only followed them."

"What about the poison peach? That weren't in the game," Hoggle complained; he resented the king for a making him the bearer of the offensive fruit. After handing it to Sarah, he thought it would end their friendship permanently, but she forgave him, something he had never expected from a human or anyone else. At that moment of forgiveness, he knew she was different from anyone he had encountered before; he knew she was extremely special. Now, he discovered, she was even willing to forgive 'him' for what he did to her.

"I know," Sarah hung her head and muttered so softly that Hoggle couldn't hear, "That's when I lost the game."

It shocked Hoggle to think he had caused her to cry, so in an attempt to correct his error he said, "I'm sorry Sarah, I didn't mean to make ya sad. Please don't be upset with me."

"It's not you Hoggle, and I'm not crying," she looked up when she spoke, and although he didn't notice any tears, he couldn't miss the sadness or sorrow in her eyes. "It's not you, it's something else. Something nobody can help with. Something I've lost forever and can never get back." She hesitated briefly and then she smiled ever so slightly before saying, "But I haven't lost you, and maybe we will be able to contact each other through the mirror and be able to see each other."

"I'd like that Sarah," Hoggle's enthusiasm replaced some of his gruffness as he spoke.

"I would also like that Hoggle, but for now I have to finish my homework, and then I have to help take care of Toby. Maybe Friday night we could arrange to do something; Karen and my dad are going out and I have to babysit for Toby again, but once I put him to bed, maybe we can watch a movie."

"Moo-vee? What's a moo-vee?" Hoggle scratched his head in confusion.

His pronunciation and bewilderment cause a small quick laugh to escape before she replied, "I'll explain it Friday night. Oh, and Hoggle."

"Yes Sarah."

"Don't look in your mirror in the morning or at night. I would like a little privacy then. Okay?"

Hoggle understood perfectly, "Okay Sarah, I'll put somethin' over the mirror in case I forget."

Hoggle understood privacy extremely well; it was the main reason he lived outside the labyrinth and not in the castle or the goblin city, so he understood her need for it as well. He did wonder, however, who could have been in her room moving things around. He did have a desire to investigate, but he was leery of crossing through the opening in case the mirror had a way of notifying the king that someone was using it to travel between the worlds. Hoggle felt Jareth was enough of a rat that he would create an opening to tempt them and then close so he could watch the pain it would cause both him and Sarah. He knew it would be risky enough going through on Friday, but knowing he would spend time with Sarah would be worth the risk then, and if the king closed it after he returned, at least he would have had some time with Sarah.

In the mean time, he would have to peek into the room during the day when she wasn't around to see if he saw anything. He would also keep his ears open to hear if any of the goblins said anything about his mirror. He knew goblins weren't very bright, and if someone had found out about the doorway, they were bound to talk about it sooner or later – it was just part of their nature to brag about things they found.

While Hoggle was considering his plans, Sarah was focusing on his comment about covering his mirror. It gave her the idea to cover hers as well. She had recently removed the pictures and articles about her mom and didn't want to put them back up, so this time she decided to put up pictures of Toby and her dad. Karen wouldn't ask questions about family pictures, and to keep them more family orientated, she would use at least one that included Karen in the picture. After her adventure in the labyrinth, she had definitely learned that she was the one who had the real problems, not Karen, and definitely not Toby. He was just a baby, she realized, and he couldn't help crying. His cries were the only way for him to gain attention. 'Heck, her guilty mind concluded, 'it's not like he can talk.'

Heaving a sigh, Sarah began digging around her room for suitable pictures to put up on her mirror. She managed to find enough to cover most of the mirror, and then decided she was going to read the little red book again. She had to locate the spot where she made her fatal error. The error that caused her to lose the most fantastic game she had ever played; the error that caused her to lose the opportunity to ask the Goblin King to be her friend; for that had been her number one intent when she included him as she told Hoggle, 'Every now and then, I need all of you." In Sarah's heart, for no reason that she understood, that phrase really meant that she would always need him.

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_I wish to thanks my beta readers 'lady of destruction aria' and 'L. A. Cornelius' for their help on this story, and I also wish to thank my long time beta reader who I am losing temporarily – she is getting married. Thanks __'cnohero' you have done an outstanding job with everything else I have written and you continue to encourage me even in my newest venture. Hope you have a great wedding, one you will always cherish. – MidnightWalking_

_Don't forget to review. I enjoy hearing from all of you._


	3. Chapter 3 Trying To Adjust

_**AN: I lay no claim to the original characters, I am just expanding their story beyond the movie we all love and adore.**_

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**_**Chapter Three – Trying to Adjust**

Sarah had spent the entire evening diligently examining the pages of the little red book. No matter how many times she went through the story, the ballroom scene was always missing. For her, that meant only one thing, she had fallen for a trap that hadn't been in the story and as a result had lost the game. Why the king had allowed Toby to come home, she wasn't sure, but she had solidified one fact in her mind – she had lost the game. No game would ever surpass the one she played with the Goblin King, but still she had not defeated the him; no doubt lingered in her mind about that fact, and because of her failure, she believed no words would ever bring the Goblin King back to her. Not only had she lost the game, but she had also lost him and that belief caused an immense ache in her heart – one she could only compare to the ache she felt when her mother deserted her and yet, this one seemed to hurt more.

At supper, her dad and stepmom cautiously observed as she picked at her food, and then she excused herself early to retire to her room. After she left, they discussed the option that she was coming down with something and admitted to each other their growing concern for her health, but it never crossed their minds that her sickness was the result of one extremely handsome king for who she was now pining.

The rest of the week followed a similar pattern for her, and Creeia watched it all carefully. He expected the King to call soon and require him to share everything he had discovered, so he collected every bit of information his mind could retain. From the older humans he had learned she wasn't eating much, which caused them some concern about the girl's health, and he knew that she cried herself to sleep most nights, and then tossed and turned throughout the night. He also heard her cry out either "He didn't come," "He isn't coming ever," or "I lost" while asleep. He wasn't sure what any of it meant, but he carefully recorded it all in his diminutive brain capacity by continually repeating the information to himself so he wouldn't forget any of it.

When the king finally summoned him home on Friday, he was extremely thankful because he knew if he had been required to wait any longer, he would have forgotten some of the information. As it was, he was able to convey all he remembered to the king, but not in the correct order. He first told the king of the restless sleep and bad dreams – he figured that was the most important information. The king only frowned when he heard about the words – especially 'I lost.' He could not imagine any reason why a champion would say, 'I lost' and what exactly she believed she had lost was beyond his comprehension. Then Creeia relayed the information about the pictures on the mirror; he wasn't sure if it was important, but at least he had remembered, and that information reminded him of the dwarfs visit. Attempting to put events back he order, he informed the king that the dwarfs visit came first and then the girl had covered the mirror with the pictures after he left.

The king frowned in confusion. 'Did she cover the mirror to keep Higglewood from visiting or for some other still unfathomable reason?' he asked himself.

Creeia next remembered the old humans and told the king that they were worried about the girl; when the king asked why Sarah's parents were worried, Creeia replied that it had something to do with eating but he couldn't quite remember what. He finally mentioned the little red book, "Read it every night, she did. Then she'd cry self to sleep. Why the girl reads something make her cry, don't know, don't understand," he told the king as he finished his report. A large grin crossed his face for his job was finished and he felt he had done a fine job. As soon as the king dismissed him, he planned to celebrate with at least a dozen tankards of ale.

Jareth waved Creeia away, and sat to brood about what he had learned. The report did not please him. Sarah should have been happy; she not only defeated him, but also rejected him, and still he allowed her to go home. In his mind, she should be happy, content, and proud of the fact that she had bested him at his own game. Instead, she seemed to have fallen into despair.

It bothered him that her parents were worried about her, but it concerned him even more that he didn't understand the reasons behind their worries. In addition, he could not conceive of any reason why Sarah would cry out at night, and her words made no sense to him. After what he had heard, he wanted, more than anything else, to go and see for himself what was really happening. She had done so much recently that confused him. He should have gone himself in the first place. Goblins were good at taking wished away children, but fell short of being good spies.

Sarah's final words barred him from going to her, but he had been able to go in his owl form that first night of the party, so he resolved to visit her himself instead of sending another goblin to watch her.

His compulsion to keep his concerns for the girl hidden from his subjects forced him to wait until the castle was silent before stealthily taking flight to the aboveground. Upon reaching Sarah's house, he settled quietly outside her window. It was extremely late, so he missed Hoggle's visit, but he did notice that her mirror but only partially covered with pictures; he remember Creeia telling him that Sarah covered the entire mirror. This only proved he should have come because obviously the goblin had remembered the information incorrectly. His only consolation was that Creeia had remembered as much as he did.

As owl Jareth watched from his perch on the branch, he witnessed Sarah fitfully tossing and turning in her sleep, and many times throughout the night, he heard her sob out the words 'He didn't come' and 'I lost.' That last phrase still troubled him because he hadn't figured out what she thought she had lost. She had won her brother back, she had defeated him, and she had rejected his final offer, so what could she have lost, and besides that, who hadn't come and to what. So many uncertainties plagued him as he watched Sarah through the remaining night, but no solutions presented themselves to resolve his unease or answer his multitude of questions.

He originally planned to go leave early in the morning, but just as he was about to leave, she sat up abruptly in bed, hold out her arms, and cried, "Please don't leave me." Her words, for reasons unbeknownst to him, had an irresistible pull on him, and he suddenly realized he could not leave, so he stayed and watched as Sarah's day began to unfold.

Sarah woke feeling empty and lonely, and even though it was Saturday, she dreaded the day knowing that nothing exciting or satisfying would happen. The make-believe play in the park Saturday's had ceased for her completely. She knew in her heart that pretend would never again come close to matching her glorious thirteen hours in the labyrinth. This Saturday, instead of rising with anticipation, she lethargically dragged herself of bed, cleaned up and dressed. Then she trudged slowly downstairs for a breakfast she had no desire to eat.

Since the night of the party, she discovered she had little interest in food. Very few things held any real interest for her anymore because she felt something extremely important was missing from her life, and without it, nothing else seemed to matter – not food or her play-acting. She had lost her enthusiasm for normal life, which she now found so monotonous that she had no interest in taking an active part of it. To her parents, she appeared overly tired; they saw her dragging herself through the day void of all energy, and the spark for life that she once had now seemed missing.

The listless that she felt was bad, but the internal restless that gnawed at her was worse. Since experiencing the labyrinth, she knew there was more to life than what she had experienced in this world, and she began to long for the other world that she had only briefly tasted. Inside, the hunger grew washing out any desire to become a more active participant in this world. 'If only' was a continual internal lament for her.

She arose every morning now with a noticeable empty void inside of her; a void nothing seemed to fill, and this exceedingly achy void she continued to sense throughout her waking day.

At the breakfast table that morning, she only pushed the food around on her plate, nibbled a little of it, and then asked to be excused from the table. Her parents had watched this same routine at every meal for the last week and it fueled their apprehension about her health and welfare.

After cleaning off her plate of the remaining food, she informed her parents she needed to go to the library to do some research for a school project. She then filled a backpack with the few things she would need to carry through with her charade before leaving the house.

Jareth, in his owl form, watched as much as possible through the windows that were available to him. He saw that Sarah ate very little, heard her plans for the morning, and watched as she filled a sort of bag and left the house. He followed unnoticed as she and her shaggy dog slowly walked toward the park where he had first found her. It was simple for him to guess her destination, so he flew ahead and settled in his favorite tree to await her arrive. He thought she would spend her time play-acting like she had always done before when he watched; however, it surprised him that instead of acting out some fantasy as she usually did, she sat on the ground, pulled out a little red book, and quietly read from it.

Occasionally, as she read, she spoke to her shaggy companion who lay beside her on the grass. Jareth listened intently to these snippets of one-sided conversation hoping to discover what the girl was actually thinking and feeling.

He watched as she reached out and patted the dog's head idly as she spoke, "This is where I was cruel Merlin. Right here I said the words that caused the goblins to take Toby away, and then he appeared. Oh Merlin, he looked fearful and marvelous just as I imagined he would."

Jareth watched as she tilted her head slightly to the left and stared off into the distance. Then Sarah murmured, "I wonder were the words came from," and then she lifted the book back up and continued reading.

Sarah stopped again and looked toward her dog, "Look Merlin, this is where I fell into the oubliette and Hoggle rescued me. Not because he wanted to of course, no – I had to trick him into helping by giving him that silly plastic bracelet." He enjoyed the soft smiled that spread across her ruby lips.

He had known the dwarf had received the bracelet from her, but until now, he hadn't realized why she had given it to him. The silence blanketed them again, until she spoke up again.

Holding up the book as if her shaggy friend could read, she exclaimed, "Right here Merlin! He waited for us right here." Her voice became softer as she continued, "Oh Merlin, he was perfect. He said exactly what I had always imagined he would say," she pulled the book back, gazed down at the page, and slowly ran her finger across the page. In fact, to the Jareth's eyes, it looked as if she were caressing the page, and it made him slightly envious because he wished it where him her finger was caressing. He paused in his observation of her to speculate just what it might feel like if her fingers were caressing his cheek.

As he watched, Jareth realized she was deep in thought again. He knew some Fae could hear the thoughts of humans, but that was an ability denied to all the goblin kings because the High King believed it would be an unfair disadvantage to the runners of the labyrinth. The goblin kings already had the ability to change the rules during the game, so they would have found it much easier to delay the runner if they had access to the human's thoughts.

Sarah suddenly laughed as she looked at the dog again and commented, "He cheated; it was the first time he really cheated. Oh Merlin, I was really mad at the time, but when he challenged me . . . oh my . . . it was exciting and terrifying at the same time."

Jareth began to wonder if she was referring to the tunnel where she had maligned his labyrinth. He had become so angry that he had taken two hours away from her. He smiled to himself when he remembered her words, 'That's not fair,' and how there were those sparks of flames in her eyes, eyes that were so vocal that he could have remained in that spot just to see what else she might say with them. Her laughter pulled him out of his reverie, and he again perked up to listen carefully to what she might say next.

It was a quiet laugh, but still full of more merriment than he had seen her display since she had arisen that morning. Her first words angered him, but those that followed surprised him.

"A piece of cake," she laughed again, "that was really rude of me and it was a lie. I lied to him Merlin, but I think he knew it as soon as the words were out of my mouth. Still, it was wrong of me, but I said it without thinking because he made me mad, and then he stepped so close to me. I wonder if he knew how I felt when he was that close . . . so close I could feel . . .," she paused as her lips turned up causing a bright smile to make her face slightly glow. Then she shook her head as if to clear it, "Well, that was also where Hoggle said he was leading me back to the entrance." She laughed softly again, "It was so thrilling Merlin; so enlivening," she concluded as she looked back down at the book.

Jareth watched and waited as she began to read the book again. It intrigued him to watch the faced she made while reading. Sometimes she would crease her lovely brows or wrinkle her nose, and her mouth he found the most interesting. It would go from smiles, to frowns, to a small circle of surprise, but what really drew him were the lips themselves. They were full, red lips, and once in awhile her tongue would flick out and lick them. Deep inside of him, a desire began to grow, a desire to taste those lips, a desire to kiss them and watch her reaction to his kiss. It was too bad, he thought, that he would never have a chance to fulfill that desire because her words, 'you have no power over me,' would keep him away until she called him, until she invited him back into her life. The sound of her voice abruptly interrupted his thoughts, and he turned his attention back onto her.

"Look Merlin, this is where I made my mistake. This is the only place where I could have lost, and that is why he didn't come when I invited him. I should have known," she paused as if in thought, and then began again, "I should have known because it wasn't a part of the original game."

Once more, Jareth longed to hear her thoughts because her words puzzled him, and the fact that she kept referring to the little red book puzzled him more. He became curious enough about the book that he descended from the tree, he changed to his human form, and froze time; he had to see what she was reading and what game she was of speaking, and he believed the book would divulge that information. As he enforced the magic, it suspended Sarah in time with her mouth slightly parted, her hand reaching for the dog, and a single tear just peeking out of the corner of her eye.

Jareth quickly strode over to the girl and carefully lifted the open book from her lap where her finger barely touched it, and then noticed how the well-worn book easily laid open to the page she was reading. Jareth knew he couldn't keep time frozen for long, so he quickly made a perfect replica of it, and then replaced the original before quickly moving to the edge of the wood and hid himself among the trees.

Once time began again, he watched as the tear slid down the girl's cheek while she lifted her head as if looking for something or someone.

He strained to hear her words as she whispered to the dog, "Do you feel that Merlin? It feels like magic, and it smells like . . ." she paused while scanning the area intently causing Jareth to receded slightly into the shadow of a large tree to remain unseen, "No, Merlin," she resumed speaking in a normal tone, "I must be mistaken. He didn't come before and he won't come know. I lost everything of any real importance when I failed to win the game. Oh Merlin, how am I ever going to survive this? Nothing is interesting anymore; nothing has meaning anymore." She lovingly patted the dogs head while softly tears fell freely as she mourned the loss of someone extremely dear to her.

Jareth understood that she believed she had lost 'some' game, but he had to discover 'what' game she really meant. If she meant 'his' game, then he had to discover why she thought she had lost when everyone in the kingdom knew she had won. It was only becoming more confusing as to what she was thinking, and since he could not delve into her thought, he decided it was time to search for answers in the book she seemed so interested in, so he tucked the red book inside of his shirt, shifted into his owl form, and flew home. Arriving at the castle, he immediately went to his library, pulled out the little red book and began reading it.

The story it contained did not follow the exact path through the labyrinth as Sarah's, but there were many parallels to her story. When he came to the page she had mentioned to the dog about making a mistake and losing, he discovered it was at the point where Hedgewart had given her the peach, which transported her to the crystal ballroom. The red book contained no mention of a peach or a ballroom or a dance meant to tempt the girl so she would forget about the baby, but it had become his favorite part of the game.

He smiled as he remembered the dance; he remembered how it had felt to hold the girl in his arms and twirl her around through the crowd of on watching Fae. It had been so easy to forget that she was but a child. As he had stared into her eyes and sung to her, all he could see was the woman inside who was waiting to emerge, a beautiful, headstrong, and determined woman full of exceptional potential – his perfect match and one who would keep him guessing at every turn of their relationship.

So how, he wondered, could this lively, energetic, imaginative young girl have believed she had lost their game when she had beaten him at every turn? Every step of the way, she had thwarted his best attempts at stopping her, and she had done it with such self-control, determination, and charm that she had won the approval of his subjects. If she hadn't won their approval and respect, they would not have shown up at her celebration party, and yet she claimed 'he' hadn't come. The only one who had not responded to her invitation had been him, except as the uninvited watcher in owl form outside her window.

What if he had been wrong? What if she had invited him? That would mean he was no longer barred access to her because she had called to him, she had invited him back into her life. If it were true, then it opened an entirely new vista of opportunities for him.

After reading the book, pondering the questions that the book and her actions had produced, he decided his one course of action was to watch her for a while before deciding what his next move, if any, would be.

While Jareth was contemplating his next move, Sarah stayed in the park regrettably mourning the loss of her dreams. The dream about being able to continue her friendship with the one person who could challenge her imagination, who could send goose bumps of fear down her arms while encouraging her to stand up to him at the same time, and who could fill both the roles she felt her life was bereft of. The Goblin King had already generously granted the other dream, the one that allowed her to play a wonderfully fantastic game.

Had Jareth stayed, he would have heard the rest of the conversation that Sarah had with Merlin. When she reached the end of the story, she told Merlin, "You see these word, they were the biggest lie I told the goblin king. Maybe I couldn't remember the words because they were a lie. He had power over me. I think he still has power over me, but maybe not the kind like dad or Karen has. He doesn't have the power to tell what I can and cannot do, but there is another kind of power, something inside that pulls at me, that make me want to see him and talk to him. This power makes me want him to be my friend, to trust him with my secrets, to share my joys and heartaches with him." She stopped as she thought about what she said, and began to realize the truth behind what she was say. "Oh Merlin, if there were only some way I could tell him all of that, then maybe he would forgive me for lying, and maybe he would accept me as a friend." Having said all of that, the tears of regret freely ran down her cheek as she stared off into the distance dreaming of what might have been.

It was late afternoon when she finally picked herself up and wended her way slowly home. She hadn't realized it, but it had been almost a week since she had actually had a substantial meal, so that evening she actually ate some of her supper – not enough to fulfill all her nutritional needs, but enough to sustain her so her body didn't shut down on itself.

The following week presented the same pattern that Sarah had followed the previous week. She ate just enough to survive but not enough to fortify her. She also removed most of the pictures from her mirror once she realized no one was moving objects around in her room, and Hoggle, while she was sleeping, looked in on her occasionally to see how she was doing. He did not like what he saw because every time he looked she appeared to be a little thinner and during the day, when he looked, he noticed pronounced dark circles visible under her eyes.

Hoggle was not the only one who had been watching her that week. Jareth had kept a crystal trained on her and once in awhile he went in person to observe her. He was still trying to ascertain whether she had actually invited him that night along with the rest of his subjects, and he continued repeating her words to himself. She had very distinctly said, "I need you Hoggle. Every now and then I need all of you . . ." The word 'all' stayed the clearest in his mind. All meant everyone, so all had to have included him. What he couldn't figure out was why he hadn't felt pulled into her room like everyone else. Had it been because of his pride because she had beaten him? Still, he had gone to watch and nothing had barred him from watching or from perching in the tree outside her room. He couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if he had actually tried to enter her room. Would her new words have allowed him in, and if so, would she have been glad to see him?

The more he thought about it, the more he began to realize other things. For instance, he was still able to observe her through his crystals, and if her words had carried the power to keep him out of her life, then he should not have been able to watch her using the crystals. Nothing had barred him from following her to the park, or from following her around during the week. For that matter, he had not felt any kind of power surrounding her that would have forced him away, and he had been able to approach her to make a copy of the red book she was always reading.

He reflected on these facts often. In fact, his reflections often caused him to overlook other events that were occurring in his kingdom and even in the throne room. A number of times, one of the goblins would make an error that generally carried a penalty of either being kicked or tossed into the bog, but during the past few days, the goblins realized that something, other than them, was occupying the king's mind.

A small group of them was huddle in a corner on the opposite side of the throne room from where Jareth sat. They had been arguing about the cause of the king's distraction when Creeia joined them.

"King worried bout something," a short crooked nosed goblin observed.

"Sure, but who know what it about?" Asked a middle-sized goblin with off-centered eyes and over-sized ears.

Then Creeia spoke up, "The girl, it's all bout the girl?"

"What girl?" A number of them asked at the same time.

Now, Creeia hadn't been silent about the job the king had given him. In fact, by now half of the goblins in the city knew the king had sent him to spy on the girl because Creeia wore his service to the king as a badge of honor; the king did not entrusted many goblins were with such an important task, so he felt he had something to be proud of. Pride also brings about boasting, and that was what Creeia had done but not in a way that showed the others that he thought he was better than they were. Instead, he boasted more about his pride in services rendered to his king.

Figuring this group had no heard about his special task, he clarified, "The girl who ate the peach."

"Her, thought he forgot that one," the crooked nosed goblin snorted. He didn't like the girl or her friend much because his was one of the houses that suffered the most damage during the battle.

"No, he think bout her a lot. Some say he goes to see her," Creeia expounded.

"I like her. She only one beat him," offered a taller goblin with some semblance of human like features about his face. "This girl would be good for him. She would be good queen. Kingdom and king need a good queen, been too long without one," he observed.

Creeia agreed, as well as some the others who had walked over to hear Creeia talk about his task, but a few didn't think a queen was necessary or that the king would ever agree to bind himself to anyone.

One of the smallest goblins present exclaimed, "King too selfish!"

What no one knew was that the king had walked over to see what this particular group was doing. He had smiled to himself when he hear the part about him and the kingdom needing a queen, that was where he had been close enough to overhear the conversation, so he missed the first part.

"Selfish!" he roared after the comment was uttered causing the smallest goblin to quake. "Who dares to claim I'm selfish?" He challenged them.

The goblins all looked at each other; those who hadn't taken part in the conversation quickly disappeared from the room, and a few on the back edge, furthest away from the king, of the group also made a hasty retreat.

Some thought about pointing out the guilty party to avoid any penalty for themselves, but before anyone could point a finger, Creeia boldly stepped forward and said, "We talking about the girl."

Jareth just stared at him waiting for an explanation.

Creeia looked down at his toes and thinking what to say next, and then looked up as he offered, "She make good queen. She sad though, like king. Maybe she needs to come home."

"What do you mean come home? She is home." As Jareth and Creeia spoke, many of the other goblins took the opportunity to vacate the throne room. Even their homes, they thought, would be better than stay in the king's presence.

"Not home to her. She lonely there. She sad there. This be home now. She won the challenge, she now part of the kingdom."

"That can never be unless it is her wish, and you know that. It is part of the rules, and you cannot break the rules," Jareth reminded him.

"King bends rules, bend for her. You like her." Creeia felt somewhat bolder since the king hadn't kicked him yet. Along as the king would listen, he decided he would talk. He had decided, after returning home, that someone needed to tell the king how he really felt, but at the time, he hadn't planned to be the one to do it.

"Not this time. This time it has to be her decision; I will not bend the rules or force her into anything. Besides, she spoke the word barring me from her side."

"King was close night of party. King been close lately too." Although he would not outright admit it, Creeia had been watching the king and he had seen him coming and going to the aboveground a number of times over the past few days.

"Creepy, I may have sent you to watch the girl, but I never gave you leave to watch me." Jareth put as much bite behind his words as he could muster. He was unwilling to tell Creeia that he admired that fact that he had stood up to his king, or that he seemed to like the girl more than some of the other goblins did.

"Not mean to, but was worried bout girl. Saw girl saw you watching girl. Watched to see she be okay." Creeia offered a small apologetic smile.

"Don't do it again Creeia that is an order." Jareth then turned and walked out of the throne room with the idea of Sarah as queen tantalizing his thoughts.

Creeia let out a deep long breath. He was no longer worried that he would spend time in the bog; the fact that the king used his proper name knew the order was official, so he would obey it, and that the king had left the room indicated no other punishment would be handed out to him, but just in case, Creeia decided to leave the castle for the rest of the day.

For Jareth, the question remained of whether he should try to approach Sarah and talk to her. He felt somewhat certain that she had done something to lift the ban on him, but he wasn't positive, and for some unfathomable reason, he couldn't seem to make up his mind about what he would do next. One option he had was to stay away from her and only watch from a distance until he could make a positive decision about what to do next. It was the option that he favored for the moment and decided to follow.

How long he would have stayed away, and how long she would have mourned his loss was something neither of them had to ponder for long because during the third week after her trip to the underground, fate stepped in to change both of their lives.

**I wish to thank everyone who has taken time to leave a small token of appreciation for this story in the review box.**

**I also wish to send a special thank you to my beta readers L. A. Cornelius and lady-of-destruction-aria – thanks ladies you're doing a marvelous job.**


	4. Chapter 4 What Dreams Are Made Of

**AN: I do not own the main characters in this story, but I thank Jim Henson for introducing them to us.**

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**Chapter Four – What Dreams are Made of**

It was another Friday night of babysitting Toby, and Sarah invited Hoggle over to watch another movie, but half way through Hoggle noticed how tired Sarah looked, so he suggested going early so she could go to bed. As Hoggle and Sarah walked into her room, neither of them noticed the owl that was perched in the tree outside her bedroom window. Jareth, from his perch, watched as Hoggle said goodbye and Sarah prepared for bed. She carried her pajamas into her bathroom, changed, and then came out and crawled quickly into bed. Sarah would not admit it to anyone, but fatigue quickly overcame her every evening for the past week. Even though she would climb into bed extremely tired, her sleep always ended up being restless. She twisted and turned all night long as she dreamt of searching for the one person missing from her life. The dream generally began the same way; she was wondering aimlessly through the Hedge Maze searching for the King, knowing he was somewhere in the maze, but unable to find him. Sometimes she would catch a glimpse of him but he would disappear as soon as she started toward him. Other times she would sense his presence but never know which direction to go. She would end up frustrated, angry, and defeated in her attempt to locate him. In the process of all this, she became restless and by morning, she felt utterly fatigue, almost as if she had actually been in the labyrinth searching for him.

On this particular night, she became even more frustrated in her dream than ever before. A few times, she was close enough to see his form distinctly, but he always had his back to her, and then, just as she was near enough to reach out and touch him, he would vanish. This pattern would repeat itself into the early morning hours until in utter defeat she called out his name. In the dream, her voice was strong and loud, but in reality, it was the softest of whispers. Even with her words barely audible, the strength of her desire actually pulled Jareth out of the tree and into her room. As he came through her open window, he took his normal form and cautiously approached her bed. The strength of her call surprised him, as did the fact that he found himself standing inside of her bedroom something he had honestly believed her words in the Escher room had barred him from ever being able to achieve. The fact that he was now in her room verified his suspicions about who hadn't come when she called. For some unfathomable reason, her invitation had included him; he just had not realized it at the time. The most surprising part of that invitation was the fact that she really had included him and had lamented his non-appearance. So many things were finally becoming clearer in his mind, for instance, when she said "all" she really meant "all."

As he stared at her sleeping form, he had a clear picture of the agony on her face that caused a clinching in his heart. As a result, he knelt down beside her bed, took her hand in his, smoothed her brow, and whispered, "It's alright now, Sarah; I understand and I'm here now. Sleep little one and we'll talk when you walk up."

She murmured ever so softly, "You promise?"

To which he replied with a smile, "Yes, I promise."

He then watched as she seemed to settle into a deep calm sleep, and as he tried to pull his hand way from hers, he felt her grip strengthen and realized she did not intend to release it. He resolved to stay beside her bed throughout the night, so he settled himself on the floor next to her bed and leaned his head against it to wait her arising come morning. He had a few uncomfortable minutes as he shifted around to make it easier not only to rest his own head, but also to allow her to continue to hold his hand. When he finally settled into a good position, he intended to stay awake through the night, but his proposed vigil ended as his eyes, overcome by his own fatigue, finally closed and he too fell asleep beside the girl he had fallen in love with all those years ago when he first discovered her.

As sleep finally began to release Sarah, she realized she had actually had a restful night. The first, she admitted, since wishing Toby away. The next item of interest was the hand that she realized she was holding. At first, she thought she was dreaming it, but as wakefulness continued to wash over her, she began to wonder whose hand she was holding. She remembered Hoggle coming over, but she was positive he went home the previous evening. Out of curiosity more than fear, she began to rub her fingers over the hand and felt some type of buttery smooth fabric covering it. As she gained more cognitive awareness, she realized some type of glove covered the hand, but she was almost afraid to look at whose hand it was; only one person she knew wore gloves all time, or at least all the time she was in the labyrinth. Her fear arose from the fact that she might be wrong, but her hoped soared with the fact that she might be correct. She wanted, more really wanted to open her eyes and find him in her room, but if she discovered that this too was only a dream, she wasn't sure how she would survive the agonizing disappointment.

While Sarah was debating whether to open her eyes, Jareth had time not only to wake up, but also to stare into the face of someone he had believed he had lost forever. He smiled slightly as he watched the varying emotions flitter across her face, but as he watched delight being replaced by pain, he could no longer allow her to suffer.

"Sarah," he whispered softly, "I really am here; it is okay to open your eyes," and then he added, just in case he had been mistaken about her wanting him to stay, "I'll leave if you want me to."

"No," she nearly shouted as she panicked and opened her eyes. Then, as she stared into his marvelous eyes and admired his glorious face, a shy smile crossed her lips as she softly said, "You're him aren't you?"

In reply, he too smiled. He remembered the first time she had said those words, and then it was more in fear and disbelief. The time he noticed a bit of awe and humor that accompanied her words; that awe brought hope to him that maybe she didn't want him completely out of her life. With that thought in mind, he smiled even broader as he replied, "Yes, I'm him."

A surge of hope filled Sarah's heart as well as she gazed upon the king she had been longing for; the one person she felt who could be her friend, and who would not make fun of her because of her love of things fantasy related. As quickly as the hope came, it also left. She could not stop the thoughts from invading her heart and her mind that this was only a dream or that he was only taunting her and once she welcomed him he would leave. Besides, she found it hard to accept the fact that he would want to spend time with a loser. The thoughts caused her smile to fade as she flatly stated, "You're leaving," and with her words came a small sob.

Jareth had basked in the glow of her smile, but he felt its warmth diminish as her smile faded and then he watched the sorrow replace the joy he saw in her eyes. As he watched, he noticed they were such sad eyes, and then her words surprised him as well as the sob that escaped along with them. Almost without thinking, he stood up, sat down on her bed, and wrapped his arms around her and allowed her to cry on his shoulder. As he began to comfort her, he suddenly realized it was like comforting a child who had been hurt or abandoned. He offered the words he hoped would provide her even more comfort, "No, Sarah, I'm not leaving. I'm here for you as long as you need me."

She sobbed into his shoulder, "I will always need you, but you don't need me."

His first words gladdened heart, but he had no idea why she believed the second. "Sarah, why would you think that?"

"You didn't come before," it too came out in a sob.

So many misunderstanding, he thought. "I wasn't sure you wanted me to come, but last night as I watched you sleep you called out my name and I couldn't leave." As he spoke, he rubbed her back with the hope of providing her with enough comfort that she would cease crying. "Sarah, are you okay?"

"I am now," she replied, this time without the sob. She was beginning to realize that maybe this could work out between them.

As she began to pull herself together, she realized the Goblin King was sitting on her bed and holding her; her next thought was her parents. If either of them walked into her room now she would be in serious trouble. Moreover, how would she ever explain his presence in her room, no less trying to explain how she knew him? She suddenly began to feel a little awkward being this close to him in her room knowing her parents were not that far away, so she pushed herself away from him, but regret the loss of the feeling of comfort he had provided for her. When she had put a little distance between them, she asked softly, "Why are you here?"

Jareth also regretted the loss of her closeness, but as she looked at him and spoke he detected no anger in her tone, so without being caustic, he replied. "You called me and I came."

"No, I meant why you were outside my window in the first place?" The question sounded rude to as she spoke so she quickly added, "I'm just curious what would bring you here?"

He could have said many things, but for the first time in his existence, he didn't feel like being mean, rude, or obnoxious, so he told the complete truth. "I was worried about you. I heard you weren't eating much and that you were having problems sleeping. I decided to see for myself and that caused me some concern."

"Why would you care?" She asked hoping he would answer.

"Sarah, whether you believe this or not, I do care. I don't want to see you getting ill, especially if it because of something I did or did not do. You need to take better care of yourself."

It wasn't that Sarah didn't like his answer; it was that it confused her. Why would a king take time to check up on a nobody, worse yet, a loser like her? She had so many unanswered questions concerning what just happened and about the "game," but she didn't think this was the place or time to ask them.

Jareth saw the confusion and longing reflected in her eyes and knew she felt uncomfortable talking to him in her room. He could also hear her parents downstairs, and although he could just stop time, he thought she needed a place to talk where she would feel more comfortable and private.

"Sarah, why don't you get dress and meet me in the park you enjoy so much?" He smiled as he talked in an attempt to reassure her that he would really meet her there.

"You won't just leave; you'll really wait for me there?"

He could see the doubt and fear on her face as well as hear it in her voice.

"I promise I'll be there for you."

Sarah could not understand why he was being so nice to her, but she was going to trust him. She needed to trust him because she realized, for some reason she didn't quite understand, she needed him above anyone else. "Okay, I'll hurry," she said as she quickly got up and headed to the bathroom to change.

Jareth chuckled to himself as he realized he hadn't lost anything because of her defeat of the labyrinth; he was realizing he was gaining more than he had ever imaged. It was obvious she wanted him in her life, at least for now, but if he cultivated a friendship with her, then maybe he could develop it into something much deeper and permanent. This could end up better than he believed possible especially after her harsh cruel words.

While Sarah was getting ready for the day, Jareth made a quick trip to the underground for some items he felt would be useful. After gathering up the items, he went to the parka and began to lay out the items they would need. He knew she really needed to eat something, so he prepared a light meal for them to share. He also laid a blanket down on the grass so they could be more comfortable while they talked, and talk was something they both needed to do. He had so many questions to ask her, and he was positive she had a large number she wanted to ask him. This was going to be a good day, he decided.

While Jareth prepared things in the park, Sarah pondered the meaning of his coming; she had convinced herself that the only reason he never answered her invitation was because he didn't want to be around a loser, but she still had no explanation about why he allowed her to bring Toby home. She didn't believe he had come to take Toby back; if he had really wanted Toby, he would just have kept him, and after looking in his eyes this morning, she knew he was sincere about not leaving unless she wanted him to leave. She was very positive she never wanted him to leave and she had told him so; she hadn't lied either when she said she needed him, but she hadn't told him yet that she needed him as a friend, and she knew she would do whatever she had to do to keep him as her friend.

As she thought about him waiting for her in the park, she felt butterflies fluttering around in her stomach; she was excited but scared. The excitement was due to his presence and the hope his presence created; the fear was a nagging doubt that he would not be in the park when she arrived. Because of her doubts, she flew through her morning routine, and as she went downstairs to leave the house, her parents stopped her to ask her about eating breakfast and her plans for the day.

"Oh," she felt caught off guard. She had no desire to make Jareth wait and she feared if she took too long he wouldn't wait for her. "I'm . . ." she paused trying to remember what lie worked best and then remembered the past weekend, "still trying to finish that report for school, so I have to go to the library to find some more information." She saw them frowning as she began to walk toward the front door, so she quickly added, "I'll pick something up along the way." Then as she rushed out the door, she shot back, "Bye, I'll see you later."

It was a good thing her feet knew the way to the park because all she could think about was whether he would be there. She hoped he would; she wanted to believe he would be, but in the back of her mind, she still feared he would have left. It wasn't until she reached the park and saw him walking back and forth that she knew he had waited.

For Jareth's part, he had laid out everything and then waited. He felt rather impatient, so he pulled out a crystal to see if she were still coming to meet him. He had watched as her parents stopped her, and he had nearly intervened so her parents would let her leave, but he waited because he wanted to see her decision. As she finally rushed out the door, he had smiled because he knew her choice had been him, but he still felt restless waiting for her to arrive, so he ended up walking around to work off his impatience.

As she approached, he held out a hand to her to welcome her, "I'm very glad that you made it. I think we need to talk. I know we both have questions," he said as he took her hand and led her to the blanket laid out upon the ground. "I also brought some food; I don't think you have been eating enough," he commented as he helped her to be seated and then sat down beside her.

"I haven't been very hungry lately," she replied softly remembering how food seemed to have little interest for her because of another need that superseded any hunger she should have felt.

"Well, it's time for you to eat something before you become sick. I can't allow that Sarah; you have to keep your health."

"Why?" She was confused as to why he should care and still slightly hurt and bitter that he had rejected her invitation on her return from the Labyrinth. "What difference can it make to you? You didn't even come when I invited you." She had thought about this for so long that the words just rushed out before she could stop them.

"Tell me Sarah, when did you invite me before last night?" He had been waiting to ask. Until last night, she had never called him by name; she had never personally invited him to her room, her life, or her world after defeating him. She had alluded to a previous invitation but he wanted her to tell him exactly when she had invited him, and he wanted no more misunderstandings between them.

"Right after you allowed me to go home. I remembered what everyone had said about 'choosing your words carefully,' so I did. I was ever so careful to say the words that would let all of you know that I needed you, and I distinctly told Hoggle that I needed 'all' of you. Don't you see it was inclusive?"

"Yes, you did say all, but I didn't think you meant to include me," he replied as he sat next to her watching her face for her reactions to his response.

"Not included! Jareth, you were the first one I thought about when I said the words. You did everything for me, so how could I not include you."

He distinctly saw the shock his comment caused registered on her lovely face and he enjoyed hearing his name roll caressingly off her tongue – a tongue, he thought, he wouldn't mind teasing with his own when the time was ripe. The fact that she had thought about him made him extremely pleased and hopeful. She hadn't forgotten him, and best, she had appreciated what he had done – that made him feel even more elated. He reached out his hand and caressed her check as he said, "You are a precious thing. I'm sorry I misunderstood, but not many would invite the villain of their story to a celebration party." He smiled as he felt her skin under his gloved hand.

"Celebration party? I hadn't thought of it as that; I only meant to let all of you know I needed you. I really hadn't thought it would turn into any kind of party, but it rather ended up like that didn't it. In all actuality, for me it wasn't as happy when I realized you hadn't come." She stared into his eyes enjoying the feel of his hand on her cheek but wondering what his hand would feel like without the glove on.

His realized his hand was still on her cheek, but he had no desire to remove it and since she didn't seem to mind, it remained. As she stared into his eyes, he returned the look marveling at the deep green coloring of her eyes and the innocence and purity that flowed out of them. His eyes then wondered to her lips; he was awed at their fullness and red hue and couldn't help but wonder what they tasted like, so without thinking much about it he leaned forward and kissed her softly.

For Jareth, the kiss tasted sweet, innocent, and promising – the promise told of things to come as she matured, and he knew he would willingly wait for her to reach maturity and all that it promised.

Sarah found Jareth's lips very soft as they brushed hers in a chaste kiss, and she responded with a giggle.

'A giggle,' she thought, 'I've never giggled, and that's for those girls at school, those cheerleaders, those girls who giggle over boys,' and that thought made her to laugh out right causing her to suddenly realize, she didn't laugh anymore. She hadn't laughed since her mother had deserted her. In fact, she hardly ever smiled because of that desertion. Maybe, she pondered, that's why the kids at school didn't like her. She had never laughed in their presence and she had hardly ever smiled, maybe that's why they called her weird.

Jareth watched as so many emotions raced across her face. He realized something was going on within her mind because he read all the fleeting changes on her precious face, and he realized it was a very precious dearly loved face, but he also saw the youth and innocence in it that he hadn't totally recognized while she had been in the Labyrinth. In the Labyrinth, he had seen the woman she would become, but for now, he would have to wait for her to grow into the woman he had seen.

"Sarah," her name flowed of his lips like a caress, "what are you thinking?"

Without consciously realizing she was doing it, she said, "I've never giggled or laughed before or at least not after my mother deserted us because I found nothing funny or humorous." She suddenly looked up into his eyes and locked her focus on him completely, "You kissed me. I've never been kissed by a boy before," a giggle rippled through her as she realized her word choice had been incorrect, "not a boy," she amended, "a man, king to be perfectly honest. My prince in reality, one I thought I had lost because I failed the game."

Her words sent him down another path of thought, she changed ideas and comments so quickly, that he found himself racing to keep up. 'Her prince,' he reiterated to himself. 'Surely she can't mean me. When would she have ever seen me as her prince? The only role she saw me in was the villain. So when did it happen?' he wondered.

"What prince, Sarah? When did you meet a prince? Failed?" The second word that caused him confusion as he asked, "When did you lose and what game did you fail?"

Still with her eyes locked on his, she tilted her head and simply replied, "You, and I lost your game." Then, as a rather dreamy look overshadowed her face, she continued, "It was the most wonderful game. I never imagined anyone would allow me to play such an incredible game, but you allowed it. You let me play your extraordinary game, but then," he watched the dreamy look quickly faded as despair replaced it, "then I made a mistake and lost the game. That's why you didn't come when I invited you." She finally looked away as a tear slowly rolled down her snowy white cheek.

Sarah took a deep breath before she continued. "Remember the end of the game, you offered me my dreams, but I couldn't take them because you had already given me my dreams – you allowed me to play the game, that was my fondest dream come true. Then you said, "Just let me rule you and you can have everything that you want," but you already ruled me, and you had already given me what I wanted. I didn't understand why you were offering me what I already had. Finally you said, "Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave," but I didn't understand what you meant by that. You see, I already feared you because you could have taken it all away from me, and I already loved you as a friend, and then the "do as I say," well I thought I had been doing as you said. I thought I had been playing the game by your rules, so I didn't understand. It confused me, why would you offer what you had already given and I had already accepted. Then later, when I invited you after the game, well you never came, so I figured I lost and you wanted nothing to do with a loser, someone who failed your game. That was the only reason, I thought, why you didn't come when I specifically invited you."

"I didn't come, at least into you room, because I failed to understand that your invitation included me. That part was just a misunderstanding, but I was outside your window looking in. I will admit I was a little mad because I hadn't been invited and because you were celebrating you defeat of me . . ."

Sarah interrupted but cast her eyes down on the ground, "But I didn't defeat you – at least that's what I decided. It was the only reason why you wouldn't have come. I even figured out where I failed and lost the game."

Again, her comments aroused so many questions, but he thought he would focus on the where she thought she had lost first. He reached out, put his hand under her chin, and tipped it up so their eyes met, "Where did you lose, Sarah?"

She stared back at him as she replied, "The peach, I lost when I bit into the peach."

"Why do you think that?" He softly asked.

"It wasn't in the book. The girl was never given anything to eat in the book, and she never went to a dance, so I fell into a trap and as a result, I lost the game." She admitted down heartedly thinking that now he would laugh, agree with her, and leave forever.

"Sarah, accepting and taking a bit of the peach didn't mean you failed, it just meant that I had temporarily lured you off your task, but you must realize by breaking free, you overcame my trick and defeated me, Sarah. You are not a loser but a winner."

"And you really didn't come because of a misunderstanding, not because you saw me as a pathetic loser," she asked full of wonder and real hope for the first time since that night.

"Yes Sarah, it is all a result of a misunderstanding, and one that I promise will not occur again, as least not if I can help it. Next time I will listen more carefully to your words and hold you to them even if you say the wrong thing." He continued to smile down upon her face, which was now slightly glowing with her newfound hope. "And what about this prince that you found, who is he?"

Sarah found herself laughing again and wondering how he didn't realize the truth as she saw it. "You are of course. Who else took me in their arms and danced with me."

"That's what turned me from a villain to prince, my precious little Sarah?" His smiled warmed as he remembered holding her soft feminine form in his arms as he waltzed her around the ballroom. They had fit together so perfectly; another reason why he knew they would be perfect for each other.

"Definitely," she breathed as his eyes began to mesmerize her. She noticed the depth of his feelings in his eyes, but she didn't understand all the emotions she saw, but she was sure of the love she saw and it astonished her. How could someone so perfect and lovely be in love with someone as simple as she saw herself?

"Oh Sarah, you really are precious. You see things so simply, and I mean that in a good way. I wanted to be your prince and your hero, but when you wished you brother way instead of yourself, you set the role I had to play, but I never wanted Toby I wanted you Sarah. Do you remember what you said before wishing Toby away?"

"Yeah, I said I wish I knew the words for the goblins to take him away and then the words just seemed to come to me." Sarah still felt guilty about saying the words, but she was still glad that Jareth sent Toby home.

Jareth smiled; he knew the words came to her because she wished for them, but those words never were important to him. "Well, you did say that but I meant even before that." He wanted her to repeat the words because they would mean more to him coming from her.

He watched as she tilted her head in thought. Sarah had to take a few moments to think back, but then she remembered as she exclaimed, "Oh! I said something like "someone take me away from this awful place." Wait, that's not right, first I said, "Someone save me." That was what I said first."

"Yes, and that was the wish I wanted to grant you but you never said, "I wish" before your words."

Sarah pondered his comment and then asked, "What would have happened if I would have said, "I wish"?"

Jareth smiled at her as he remembered what he would have done. "Then Sarah, I could have done what I really wanted to do. I could have come to you as the hero to rescue you from your plight rather than as the villain who had to take away your brother."

"Oh, but you're still my hero," Sarah blurted out. As she watched his face, she saw disbelief reflected in his features, so she explained, "Jareth, you did exactly what I asked, and then you gave me the opportunity to win him back. You even allowed me to make friends while I traveled your labyrinth. Best of all, you allowed me to play the game for real instead of having to play pretend in the park. It was the best game I ever played, and I don't regret any of it. In fact, that game was so good that my pretend games are no long any fun."

Out of extreme curiosity, Jareth asked, "So, if you could pick the role I was to play next, Sarah, what would it be?"

A smile engulfed her face as she replied, "My best friend."

Jareth smiled back as he as answered, "I think I can fulfill that roll," and he hoped over time the role would expand to include more than just friendship with her, but he recognized the fact that she was currently too young to understand what he truly wanted from her. "Sarah," he inquired, "How old are you?" It was more than curiosity, for him it was information gathering so he could calculate and plan when she would be ripe for an expansion of the friendship role.

"Nearly sixteen," she answered with pride.

'So young, but in human years close,' he thought with pleasure. "When is your birthday?"

"In two months," she answered happily. "I will be sixteen on October thirty-first."

"That is interesting," he replied, "You're a Halloween baby. I hadn't realized that." He should have known Sarah would have a unique birthday and it would explain why she was so different from most of the other human girls he had encountered through the years.

Sarah smiled at him, and in her mind, she saw a budding friendship that she knew she would cherish; for her, his plans were unimagined because she had not developed those desires yet. She had spent so much time in an imaginary fantasy realm that she had not taken the time to delve into the romance novels that many girls of her age had been reading, so her mind had not wrapped around those desires yet.

Jareth had an idea that for her, romance was still of the fairy tale variety, but if they began spending more time together, maybe she would begin to think along other lines; at least that was his hope. For now, he was more than willing to bide his time and develop the type of relationship she so craved and then allow it to bloom into something stronger when she was ready for it.

As he continued to examine her, he realized she still hadn't eaten anything and that was something he planned to change immediately, so handing her a peach, he said, "Eat Sarah, you need to replenish your strength."

Looking askew at the peach and remembering the last one she had, she asked, "Could I have a ham sandwich instead," causing him to laugh as he looked for something else for her to eat while envisioning a future full of promise and reward for both of them.

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**AN: This really is the end of the story. I'm not sure if I'll write a sequel, there didn't seem to be much interest in the story, as least as seen through the reviews, so I have shelved the sequel idea for the time being.**


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